About 50 people have been injured.
The heat and strong wind contributed to the spread of fires in the west and center of the country, where 42 fires are active. About 3,900 firefighters and about 1,000 cars have been mobilized to fight the flames.
In the municipality of Gondumara near Portu, people were evacuated again on Wednesday night. Firefighters battling the blaze in Erouk, Aveiro County, told local media that the situation there was out of control.
In the region south of Porto, around 20,000 hectares have burned since Monday, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
Aveiro authorities reported late Tuesday that firefighters were close to bringing under control one group of fires that had spread to a 100-kilometer perimeter.
Portugal, which has about 30 firefighting planes and helicopters of its own, has also asked the European Union (EU) for help, and Spain, France, Italy and Greece have responded to the request.
Portugal has increased funding for fire prevention tenfold and doubled its firefighting budget after fires claimed more than 120 lives in 2017.
2024-09-18 12:37:28